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Forum:Upcoming Policy Changes
Announcement Hello, We wanted to let you know that in order to comply with federal law, Wikia is reviewing the way it handles communities that may be considered directed to people 12 years of age or younger. This wiki has been flagged as falling into that category, and I wanted to let you know about it. While I am sure this wiki has many fans of all ages, it can also be especially appealing to the younger demographic for purposes of the newly revised Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The only change you will notice is that we will be turning anonymous editing and commenting off for wikis in this category. Your users will still be able to edit and participate. They just need to make sure that they are logged in first. We hope the impact on your community will be minimal. We realize this might be an inconvenience, but this is a step Wikia has to take in order to make sure we are in compliance with federal law. You can find out more about COPPA here: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/12/coppa.shtm. The changes to the law will be going into effect July 1st, 2013 although you may see some changes before then. Be sure to keep an eye on Community Central where we will be announcing these updates to the wider Wikia Community on Monday on the staff blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks, and Happy Editing! --semanticdrifter (help forum | blog) 00:31, June 21, 2013 (UTC) Follow-up information I have been reading the discussions on a couple of other wikis. There are several points that keep coming up that need to be addressed here. —RRabbit42 (leave a message) 04:01, June 26, 2013 (UTC) ; This is unfair to kids. Wikia should let them edit. This change is not about being able to edit. This is about obeying a law. ; Kids used to be able to edit. Why can't they keep editing? Wikia's previous policy matched the first version of the US COPPA law. That law changes this year, so Wikia's policy has to change with it. If they didn't make this change, they risk lawsuits that could result from the new version of COPPA. And actually, kids aren't supposed to go to a website if they are underage. To do so, their parents or legal guardians have to give legal permission for the kids to be on the website. Wikia's Terms of Use only cover that the person creating an account is 13 or older, so they do not have a method for adults to submit legal permission for their younger kids to use a wiki. Keeping those kinds of records and verifying they're true is expensive and time-consuming, and doing both is necessary in case a law suit was filed against them. ; This will be good because it will mean we have less vandalism, spammers and trolls. Maybe. While it may look easier to vandalize, spam or troll if you don't have an account, requiring an account is not going to stop all of it. If someone wants to cause problems, they won't care that they have to create an account. ; This is a new law by our current President to restrict our freedoms. Incorrect. The law was created in 1998, signed by President Bill Clinton and it took effect in 2000. The law was updated in July 2013 to address new technologies and privacy concerns. ; I don't like this law. I'll just go to some other wiki that lets me edit no matter what my age is. If that wiki is hosted in the United States, then whoever runs that wiki also has to obey US COPPA law. If you don't like the law, you have to write to your Senator or House of Representatives member and convince them to get the law changed or repealed. That takes time and then has to be signed by whatever President is in office at the time. Other countries have similar laws, so any wikis in those countries are also subject to their version of COPPA and getting that changed or repealed involves the same process. If you're under 13 and you go to another wiki because you don't like that Wikia has to obey a law, then that means you are putting the other wiki at risk for breaking the law. FAQ ; What wikis are affected by this change? All wikis that where it is likely that kids under 13 would go to. Other wikis that are mostly for teenagers or adults won't have the account requirement, but you still need to be at least 13 to create an account. ; If I don't have an account, can I still come here? Yes. You can still read the wiki. You just won't be able to edit any of the pages and you won't be able to leave messages for anyone. You also wouldn't be able to make nominations for the monthly voting. ; Can I vote in the monthly polls? We don't know at this time if the polls will still work for anonymous users. ; What will happen if I make an account and I'm not at least 13 years old? If Wikia learns that you're underage, they have the option to close your account because it is a violation of the Terms of Use that you agreed to when you created the account. If you tell someone on this wiki that you're under 13, such as in the chat room, that person is pretty much obligated to notify Wikia and let them make the decision about what to do. ; Do you have to block me if I'm underage? So far, no. Wikia has not issued an official policy for how local admins should handle these situations. Instead, they have provided general advice about this, which is that the admins don't have to set a block. Instead, the admin (or whichever person learned about your age) should notify Wikia through the Contact page and leave it up to them to handle it. While it may seem like we're being tattletales for reporting someone is underage, if we do nothing about it, we put Wikia at risk. Doing nothing could also be viewed as approving of kids lying about their age when they create an account. We do not want either of those to happen. Notifying Wikia about underage users is one way we can help them stay in business. When they stay in business, we get to keep using wikis for free that we enjoy, even if it isn't as convenient as it used to be. If we determine that a block is necessary, we would set it to be until you're 13. For example, if you're 10 years old, the block would be for 3 years. Or if you're "almost 11", the block would be for about 2½ years so that it expires shortly after you turn 13. ; If I'm blocked on this wiki, am I blocked on all the other wikis? No. A block only applies to the wikis it was created on. You can go to other wikis and still edit there. However, there are two factors to be aware of: # Administrators sometimes share information between wikis, so if an admin on wiki 1 talks with an admin on wiki 2 and passes along that you were blocked for being underage, the other admin may set a block on the second wiki. # If someone from Wikia learns that you're underage, they are likely to close your account. Discussion If you have a question or point to be discussed that isn't covered above, you can enter it here. Wow, that is a great summary. Thank you. —semanticdrifter (help forum | blog) 19:06, June 24, 2013 (UTC) Blog Post Up For more info on this change, please see the Community Central blog post. Feel free to comment on the general policy there, and keep the wiki specific discussion here. Thanks, --semanticdrifter (help forum | blog) 19:06, June 24, 2013 (UTC) Upcoming